IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

ERIC COOPER, §

§ No. 465, 2018

Defendant Below, §

Appellant, § Court Below: Superior Court of the

§ State of Delaware 

v. §

§ Cr. ID No. 0808019339 (K)

STATE OF DELAWARE, §

§

Plaintiff Below, §

Appellee. §

Submitted: November 15, 2018

Decided: February 7, 2019

Before VALIHURA, SEITZ, and TRAYNOR, Justices.

O R D E R

Upon consideration of the appellant’s opening brief, the appellee’s motion to 

affirm, and the Superior Court record, it appears to the Court that:

(1) The appellant, Eric Cooper, filed a motion for correction of illegal 

sentence under Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(a). Cooper claimed that his 

sentence exceeded statutory limits and violated double-jeopardy principles. The 

Superior Court denied the Rule 35(a) motion as untimely filed and because a 

reduction or modification of sentence was not warranted. The State has moved to 

affirm the Superior Court’s judgment on the grounds that it is manifest on the face 

of Cooper’s opening brief that the appeal is without merit. Having carefully 
2

considered the parties’ positions on appeal, we affirm the Superior Court’s denial of 

Cooper’s motion, but we do so for independent and alternative reasons.1

(2) Cooper was tried before a Superior Court jury for offenses arising from 

a 2008 home invasion. The evidence at trial established that, shortly before 1:00 

a.m. on May 23, 2008, two masked men—Cooper and another man—barged into the 

apartment of Eric Ross. Ross was there socializing with four friends—Ian Mason, 

Amanda Stevens, Isaiah Mason, and Travis Breitzke. Cooper had a revolver, and 

the other man had a shotgun. The intruders ordered Ross and his friends to get on 

the floor and empty their pockets. Instead of getting on the floor, Travis Breitzke 

ducked into the kitchen and called 911. When Ian Mason stood up and tried to reason 

with the intruders, Cooper fired several shots, one of which struck Ian Mason in the 

abdomen. The intruders then fled the apartment.

(3) The jury convicted Cooper of one count of Assault in the First Degree

as a lesser-included offense of Attempted Murder in the First Degree; five counts of 

Attempted Robbery in the First Degree; three counts of Reckless Endangering in the 

First Degree, and one count of Burglary in the First Degree. For each of those 

offenses, the jury convicted Cooper of a related count of Possession of a Firearm 

During the Commission of a Felony (“PFDCF”). Also, the jury convicted Cooper 

 

1 Wynn v. State, 2014 WL 4670861 (Del. Sept. 19, 2014) (citing Guy v. State, 82 A.3d 710, 712 

(Del. 2013)).
3

of Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony and Conspiracy in the 

Second Degree.

(4) When sentencing Cooper, the Superior Court imposed separate, 

mandatory terms of Level V incarceration for each of the assault and burglary 

convictions, the attempted-robbery convictions, and the PFDCF convictions. For 

the reckless-endangering and wearing-a-disguise convictions, the Superior Court 

sentenced Cooper to a total of twenty years of Level V incarceration—five years for 

each conviction—suspended for probation. For the conspiracy conviction, Cooper 

was sentenced to two years of Level V incarceration suspended for probation. On 

direct appeal, we affirmed Cooper’s convictions and sentences.2 Thereafter, Cooper 

filed motions for postconviction relief under Superior Court Criminal Rule 61. The 

Superior Court denied both motions.3 Cooper did not appeal. 

(5) Cooper has raised two claims in his appeal from the denial of his motion 

for correction of illegal sentence. First, he contends that the fifteen-year Level V 

suspended sentence for the three reckless-endangering convictions (five years for 

each conviction) and the mandatory two-year Level V sentence for the assault 

conviction should have merged because the reckless endangering convictions were 

 

2 Cooper v. State, 2010 WL 1451486 (Del. Apr. 12, 2010).

3

State v. Cooper, 2011 WL 7456938 (Del. Super. Oct. 24, 2011) (denying first postconviction 

motion); State v. Cooper, 2013 WL 6407883 (Del. Super. Dec. 6, 2013) (denying second 

postconviction motion). 
4

lesser-included offenses of the assault conviction. Cooper’s claim is without merit. 

There is no merger issue here. None of the three counts of reckless endangering was 

charged as a lesser-included offense of the assault count. Cooper was charged, 

convicted, and sentenced for assaulting Ian Mason and was charged, convicted, and 

sentenced for endangering Amanda Stevens, Isaiah Mason, and Eric Ross.

4

 

(6) In his second claim on appeal, Cooper contends that the separate 

sentences imposed for the assault, burglary, attempted robbery, and related PFDCF 

convictions should be vacated because the convictions arose out of one incident, 

namely, the home invasion on May 23, 2008. The claim is without merit. Cooper’s 

conduct during the home invasion constituted distinct crimes of violence against five 

victims.5 Imposing a separate punishment for each of those crimes did not violate 

principles of double jeopardy and was not illegal.

6

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to affirm is 

GRANTED. The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Gary F. Traynor

Justice

 

4

See Wright v. State, 2010 WL 2163851 (Del. May 10, 2010) (finding no merger issue where the 

same conduct—shooting into a crowd—led to the defendant’s first-degree reckless endangering 

conviction of one victim and second-degree murder conviction of another victim).

5

11 Del. C. § 4201(c) (Supp. 2018) (designating violent felonies).

6

 Chandler v. State, 2015 WL 733633 (Del. Feb. 19, 2015); Kile v. State, 382 A.2d 243, 245 (Del. 

1978) (citing McCoy v. State, 361 A.2d 241, 242 (Del. 1976)).